Liberty Say They Were Told No Reset Timeout, Officials Say No One Asked in 101-98 Loss

The New York Liberty left Atlanta with their season on the brink and a timeout they never used. Breanna Stewart and head coach Chris DeMarco say officials told them in overtime that no reset timeout remained, USA Today reports, while the game’s pool report says the crew confirmed the opposite and never spoke to the team at all. New York lost 101-98, trails the semifinal 2-0, and has filed an official inquiry with the WNBA.

What exactly happened in the last seconds of overtime?

The sequence is short, and both sides agree on the setting. Angel Reese was at the free-throw line with about four seconds left in overtime and Atlanta protecting a one-possession lead. Stewart, who finished with 35 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, asked official Kevin Fahy whether New York had its reset timeout, the New York Post reports. A reset would have advanced the ball to the frontcourt for a far better final shot than the long three Stewart eventually missed.

Stewart’s account is specific. She says Fahy was unsure, checked with crew chief Fatou Cissoko-Stephens, and relayed her answer: no reset remained. Sabrina Ionescu says she asked too, and members of DeMarco’s staff say they asked as well, the Post reports. DeMarco’s version matches his player’s: the team was told it did not have the timeout. Games at this level turn on small margins, which is why the format details in our explainer on how long WNBA games last and how overtime works matter in the final seconds.

What did the pool report say instead?

Almost the reverse. In the pool report, Cissoko-Stephens said Stewart was standing behind Fahy when he confirmed with his partner between Reese’s free throws that New York did indeed have a reset timeout remaining, USA Today reports. She also said there was no direct communication with New York’s staff about the timeout.

Those two accounts cannot both be complete. Either a check happened and its result never reached the Liberty bench in usable form, or the bench misunderstood what it heard in a loud arena. What is not disputed is the outcome: the reset existed, it went unused, and Atlanta’s own coach, Karl Smesko, said he expected the ball to be advanced because he believed New York had a timeout left, USA Today reports.

Why does the protocol make this dispute possible?

Because timeouts are not the officials’ count to keep. The pool report spelled out the protocol: the scorer’s table and statistical staff track available timeouts, teams are responsible for managing their own usage, and officials may confirm the status with the table when necessary but do not officially track timeouts, USA Today reports.

That design creates the gap this game fell into. A player can ask a question the nearest official is not required to know the answer to, and a correct confirmation between two officials can still fail to reach the team that needed it. The row sits in the same officiating spotlight as the NBA’s new push-off emphasis that caught Scottie Barnes on opening night and the technical given to Nikola Jokic after he was shoved first in preseason: the call, or the communication around it, becomes the story.

How much did the unused timeout actually cost New York?

A better look, not a certain basket. Stewart still got a three away at the buzzer, and Leonie Fiebich pushed back on the idea that the officials decided the game, the Post reports. Ionescu, who called the mistake costly, also put her own performance first, saying the loss was on her after a poor free-throw night.

The honest reading is narrower than the outrage. New York lost a game with 17 lead changes through its own late errors too, including a jump ball and a pass thrown into the second row in the final minute, the Post reports. But a semifinal possession is exactly the moment a reset timeout exists for, and the Liberty’s frustration echoes Sophie Cunningham’s argument this month that process, not one result, is the problem when she questioned how a fan incident was handled.

What happens next with the inquiry and the series?

The inquiry cannot change the score. Its realistic outcomes are a league clarification of what was said on the floor, a protocol reminder about confirming timeouts at the table, or nothing public at all. Game 3 is Friday in Brooklyn, and the history is bleak: no WNBA team has recovered from 2-0 down in a best-of-five series, the Post notes.

Stewart’s framing after the game was about one win, not three. New York swept the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round, so an elimination-game response is not new to this roster. What is new is that the Liberty now have to win while still arguing, with some justification, that their season nearly ended on a question two officials answered in two different ways.